Win 10 - convert dynamic disk to basic

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I moved my HD enclosure to newish laptop. It's showing up as Disk 1, dynamic and invalid.

Partition Wizard will convert it but not the free version.

Other free products that will do it?

Canmot reformat, need the data.

Win 10 Home
 
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If the disk is blank, you can do it with the DISKPART command line utility in Windows. I don't believe Windows will let you do it if the drive has data.
 
Diskpart.exe can convert between disk volume types without deleting data I have done this myself without issue. However if the data is irreplaceable get someone that knows how this is done to do it for you. A second disk attached to the OLD computer may be worth it to make a backup before proceeding.
 
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Originally Posted By: Kawiguy454
Diskpart.exe can convert between disk volume types without deleting data I have done this myself without issue. However if the data is irreplaceable get someone that knows how this is done to do it for you. A second disk attached to the OLD computer may be worth it to make a backup before proceeding.


At that juncture it would make more sense to just hook the disk back up to the computer it came off of, copy its contents to a non-dynamic external, then repartition the disk as a regular disk for use.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Kawiguy454
Diskpart.exe can convert between disk volume types without deleting data I have done this myself without issue. However if the data is irreplaceable get someone that knows how this is done to do it for you. A second disk attached to the OLD computer may be worth it to make a backup before proceeding.


At that juncture it would make more sense to just hook the disk back up to the computer it came off of, copy its contents to a non-dynamic external, then repartition the disk as a regular disk for use.


Old computer no longer bootable.
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
If the disk is blank, you can do it with the DISKPART command line utility in Windows. I don't believe Windows will let you do it if the drive has data.


I need the data.
 
right-click the disk and then click Import Foreign Disks

If this disk is from a laptop that won't boot, you probably have a bad drive. But a dynamic disk needs to be imported into another computer.
 
Originally Posted By: Subdued
right-click the disk and then click Import Foreign Disks

If this disk is from a laptop that won't boot, you probably have a bad drive. But a dynamic disk needs to be imported into another computer.


It generally says "foreign" in that scenario however, not "invalid".
 
Originally Posted By: Subdued
right-click the disk and then click Import Foreign Disks

If this disk is from a laptop that won't boot, you probably have a bad drive. But a dynamic disk needs to be imported into another computer.


The disk i question is a RAID 1 array in an enclosure. Its not a bad drive.

I have SteelVine manager installed to manage the RAID 1 array and it can see both of the physical drives. I even had it to a verify last night (within the enclosure) to make sure the two drives are perfectly mirrored. That worked fine. This is not to be confused with the scenario where Windows does the disk mirroring.
 
You left the array part out of your post. That's important.

You're probably going to have to call support for the people who make the enclosure, some of these arrays can be a nightmare when moving them to a different pc.
 
In years past, the only way I was able to get a dynamic disc to work in a new computer was to purchase the "pro" version of the operating system. Even then, I had to copy the data to a different drive, that different (new drive) could not be set up as a dynamic drive.
 
Originally Posted By: Subdued
You left the array part out of your post. That's important.

You're probably going to have to call support for the people who make the enclosure, some of these arrays can be a nightmare when moving them to a different pc.


It looks to Windows like a single drive. It was the F drive on old computer.
 
See if you can find a bootable Linux CD/DVD/USB (ideally something like Parted Magic) and boot into that. Then see if the live Linux environment can recognize the virtual drive/array. If it can, then copy the data off onto an external drive or over your network.
 
I find OVERKILLS last suggestion intriguing so I would give that a go.

FYI - the partition wizard in the free version of Easeus allows you dynamic disk recovery up to 2GB of data. To convert to basic, as you stated, requires the paid version.
 
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